Speaking at the meeting, Dr Vu Tien Loc, VCCI President and Chairman of the Vietnam – South Korea Friendship Association, confirmed that after 20 years of diplomatic relations, Vietnam and South Korea have continuously strengthened and developed cooperation in all fields and in October 2009 upgraded it to “Strategic cooperative partnership”. This special relationship has constantly strengthened and developed based on the enhancement of high-level visits by leaders of the two countries and cooperation programmes. Two-way trade has increased from US$0.5 billion in 1992 to US$27.3 billion in 2013, up 54 times in 20 years.

The main export items of Vietnam to South Korea in recent years are textiles, oil, vehicles and spare parts, marine products, wood and wood products. The main import items of Vietnam from South Korea in recent years are computers, electronic products, machinery parts, fabric, telephone, fuel, raw materials for textiles and footwear, machinery and instruments spare parts, fuel types, iron and steel, automobile units of all kinds, parts and auto parts, and plastic materials.

On investment cooperation, Korea continues to consider Vietnam the most important partner in Southeast Asia, a complement to the Chinese market which has been saturated (China + 1) because Vietnam has a stable political – social environment, low production costs, abundant labour force and natural resources, and has established a network of stable supply for the operation of the business, besides Korea can take advantage of the AFTA and the mechanism of Korea-ASEAN FTA. As of the end of 2014, South Korea was the largest investor in Vietnam with a total registered capital of US$36.7 billion with 4,063 projects. The investment projects in Vietnam focus on a number of areas namely processing technology, manufacturing, high-tech complex, real estate, food services, construction, and communications information. The survey of Korea’s International Trade Association showed that the majority of Korean enterprises had plans to expand its business in foreign markets, in which Vietnam is a destination for their choice. Specifically, 49 percent of the total of 540 Korean businesses surveyed about the investment environment in 32 countries with an annual growth rate of more than 3 percent in the last 3 years have confirmed plans to develop business in Vietnam market in 2015 because of the opportunities being opened from the trade liberalisation agreements that Vietnam participates. In particular, Korean firms rely much more on tariff reduction commitments, expanded markets and investment opportunities from Vietnam – South Korea FTA.

Emphasis on the potential for cooperation in the field of agriculture, Dr Loc said, high-tech agriculture is one of the fields with high potential in Gyeongsangbuk-do in particular and South Korea in general, with products such as melon, pear, apple, dried persimmon, black garlic, extracts from cactus, and red ginseng. Korean products are very popular in Vietnam.

Mr Jang Won Jin, Head of the Korean delegation said, for Korea, Vietnam is one of key countries and partners in development cooperation. Relations between Vietnam – South Korea is in a favourable phase in many areas. Attending the meeting with VCCI are representatives of Korean Embassy in charge of tax, food and pharmaceuticals, representatives of 17 businesses in Gyeongsangbuk-do, and media representatives of South Korea. Businesses in Gyeongsangbuk-do visiting Vietnam this time want to learn and develop cooperative relations with Vietnam enterprises with targeted products which are fresh and processed agricultural products.

Mr Jang Won Jin added that in order to evaluate and check the quality of goods, South Korea brought some typical products to Vietnam which were arranged and presented for testing within the meeting.

Ending the meeting, to create a legal basis to support businesses, VCCI and Gyeongsangbuk-do signed a cooperation agreement. Subsequently Korean businesses delivered an introduction about potential cooperation and meet directly with the Vietnam enterprises to exchange information, enhance opportunities for cooperation and investment.